AZERBAIJANI SOLDIER TAKEN PRISONER BY ARMENIANS WILLFULLY LEFT MILITARY UNIT

Trend News Agency
March 13 2008
Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan, Baku, 13 March /corr. TrendNews E.Guliyev / The family
of the Azerbaijani soldier who was taken prisoner by the divisions of
the Armenian Armed Forces officially stated that he left the military
unit willingly, soldier Mukhtarov Yagub’s grandmother, Gannab Yagubova,
told Trend News Regional Correspondent.

According to her, they talked to Mukhtarov by telephone on 9 March
in which Mukhtarov said that on the eve of Novruz Holiday, he would
return home. Yagubova said that they first learned of Mukhtarov
being taken prisoner from the press on 12 March. She said that the
Defence Ministry and Military Prosecutor’s Office of Azerbaijan had
not informed them of this.

The press services of the Defence Ministry and Military Prosecutor’s
Office confirmed that Mukhtarov had willingly left the military unit.

Previously, the press secretary of Armenian Defence Ministry, Seyran
Shahsuvaryan, reported that Azerbaijani soldier Mukhtarov, born on
29 April 1988 in Azerbaijan’s district of Sheki, was taken prisoner
in the direction of Azerbaijan’s district of Tovuz.

Mukhtarov was called up for military service by Sheki Military
Registration Commission.

Azerbaijan’s Defence Ministry did not provide any additional
information in this regard.